Letter to Friedrich Engels, January 29, 1869

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 29 January 1869


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43


MARX TO ENGELS

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 29 January 1869

DEAR FRED,

Eichhoff 's brother[1] wanted to reprint my '18th Brumaire' (and pay for it).

Accordingly, I thought it necessary to write to Meissner,[2] to ask, as it were, for his authorisation for this (he does not like pamphlets). He writes that nobody but he may print the pamphlet, since he is my publisher ex officio[3] and wishes to remain such. The stuff should be sent to him direct, after minor alterations.[4]

QUESTION: can you get me a COPY of Louis Bonaparte? Wasn't there a copy amongst Lupus' estate?[5]

Your

K. M.

  1. ↑ Albert Eichhoff
  2. ↑ The letter in question has not been found.
  3. ↑ by virtue of office
  4. ↑ Marx's work The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (see present edition, Vol. 11), in which, following the events, Marx revealed the essence of Bonapartism, drew attention of the leaders of the working-class movement in the 1860s. In 1864 Wilhelm Liebknecht tried to arrange a new publication of the work in Switzerland. Sophie von Hatzfeldt, Lassalle's friend and associate, offered assistance. Marx, however, turned it down (see Marx to Sophie von Hatzfeldt, 22 December 1864, present edition, Vol. 42). In 1865, Marx apparently had the idea of publishing a collection of his and Engels' works in Germany. The edition was to include also The Eighteenth Brumaire... (see Marx to Wilhelm Liebknecht, 24 June 1865, present edition, Vol. 42). Marx and Engels planned to enlist the services of Otto Meissner, the publisher of Volume One of Capital (see Engels to Marx, 27 April 1867, present edition, Vol. 42). The negotiations were, however, protracted. Against the background of the exacerbating crisis of the Second Empire in France, Marx stepped up his efforts to get a second edition of the work printed. Already in late January 1869, Marx, who on 27 January had received Meissner's agreement to undertake a second edition of The Eighteenth Brumaire..., sent him a corrected version (see this volume, Marx to Ludwig Kugelmann, 11 May 1869, and p. 222). The second authorised German edition of this work appeared in Hamburg in late July 1869.
  5. ↑ Marx addressed the same request concerning his work The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte to a number of his friends, including Borkheim. It was F. Wohlauer who sent Marx a copy of the book probably together with the letter of 1 February 1869.